C H A P T E R X X V I
GENERAL CONDITIONS IN PUERTO RICO
TH E development of Puerto Rico came after the
era for creating great West Indian plantations,
and the increase of population, when it began, was
so rapid as to prevent the concentration of land in
few hands. Moreover, this increase was caused
largely by immigration of white settlers from European
and Spanish-American countries, and produced
a genuine peasantry attached to the soil. T he
negroes, not having been the property of great
planters under slave-driving overseers, were better
treated than those in most of the other islands, and
when they were all freed in 1873, they found themselves
more nearly on a footing of equality with the
rest of the people. T h e y were also in a minority
and not an object of dread; and of the 900,000 and
more inhabitants now in the island scarcely more
than one third are black or “ coloured.” This distinction
between negroes and those of mixed blood
as “ black ” and " coloured ” is generally made
throughout the West Indies.
In the middle of the last century there were almost
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no towns, and the few inhabitants were so dispersed
over the country that they seldom came together
except for some religious or festal celebration, when
they met at an appointed place in the middle of a
parish. During the rapid growth of population
in the present century a considerable number of
towns and cities have been built up, but none of
them are large, and nearly five sixths of the people
are still rural in their way of living. Their dwellings
are mostly scattered along the valleys, where alone
there are practicable roads. There are very few on
the tops or slopes of the hills. Nearly all the
natives, of whatever complexion, are engaged in
agriculture in some form. T he soil of the highlands
is a rich red loam, and that of the valleys a
black mould, while near the coast it becomes more
or less sandy. I t is nearly everywhere extremely
fertile, but methods of cultivation are still very
primitive. Oxen are harnessed to rude implements
by the horns and prodded with cruel goads. No
crops are raised on a large scale, and hardly any
modern appliances or processes are used. T he land
is capable of producing more sugar to the acre than
any other in the whole archipelago, and the finest
of cotton and tobacco can be raised, but even rural
industry is backward.
In general the low lands near the coast are occupied
by sugar plantations, interspersed with fruit
groves and orchards. T he tobacco fields are on
higher ground back of this belt, while the slopes of
the hills are covered with coffee gardens. T he
means of internal communication are poor, and the